Operation Withdrawal Scam

[professorpan]

<!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050802/operation_withdrawal_scam.php">www.tompaine.com/articles...l_scam.php</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>This article sums up clearly what I've been thinking -- that we will continue to hear about phased pullouts and plans for withdrawals from Iraq while the bloodshed and chaos continues unabated. It's a brilliant and (according to the subtext of the article) Rovian ploy.<br><br>And of course anyone who thinks the neocons want out of Iraq is smoking too much recently imported Afghani hash. The plan is, and has always been, to stay parked on top of all that delicious black gold. <br><br>From the article:<br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>A recent letter in</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> The New York Times <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>shed more light on the Bush administration’s intentions than hours of network punditry. “My brother-in-law just returned from a stint in Iraq with the Minnesota Air National Guard,” wrote Ronald M. Asher II. “Although he couldn’t tell me where in Iraq he was stationed, he did say that the level and type of construction going on at the air base convinced him that the United States military planned on being there for a very long time.”</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br>Well, duh. <p></p><i></i>

[ZeroHaven]

The second sentence says " the commander of American forces in Iraq said that continuation of recent trends would make possible “some fairly substantial reductions” of U.S. troop levels in the spring and summer of 2006."<br><br>If the recent trends continue this statement is absolutely true. Recruitment is down, and there's over 1800 troops that have been killed. Already SEVEN this month, and it's only the 2nd! (icasualties.org) <p><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a239/ZeroHaven/tinhat.gif"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--></p><i></i>

[Ted the dog]

yeah, I love this new supposed pullout they've got planned. Hopefully it's legit. <br><br>the thing I couldn't decide on when I heard it though, was which of the various possible scenarios is more likely:<br><br>1. claim to have a pullout planned...ease american worries, make it seem like everything is "getting better over there", and just continue on as usual, using words like "politics" and "economy" to slowly shift the public mindset to meet what bush and the general said last week on CNN, "Iraq isn't about military stuff anymore, it's about 'politics' and 'economy'...yeah...that's it."<br><br>2. Actually HAVE a pullout plan and implement it, and use it as a way to back out of the fucking mess that it is without having to say, "I was wrong...sorry guys."<br><br>3. Claim to have a pullout plan, detonate one of the supposedly missing suitcase nukes in middle america and then roar back into the public's favor with, "See? see? we wanted to pull out and we already told you we had a plan to do it.... but that wasn't good enough for those terrorists. they had to push it. and now they've got hell to pay!", like it was November of 2001. <p></p><i></i>